


Only the Best...

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Gen, Sentinel Bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-28 05:31:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13897302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: Jim is being seriously overworked





	Only the Best...

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2018 sentinel bingo prompt 'slave'

Only the Best...

by Bluewolf

Jim Ellison had been flattered when he was declared 'cop of the year' once, more than flattered when he got the award for a second year, and thoroughly embarrassed when Simon told him he had been nominated to receive it for a third year - to the point where he had told Simon to  tell the commissioner that he didn't want to be considered for it again - ever.

Perhaps that was why, when the Mayor pressured the Commissioner to 'Get your best men on this case!' the commissioner invariably called on Major Crime and told him to "Give this case to Ellison!" It seemed that if Ellison wouldn't accept the 'cop of the year' award when the entire Cascade PD knew he was the best, the commissioner would pressure him into proving he was the best, over and over and over.

What did surprise Jim was how little resentment there was over his reputation as 'the best'.

Of course, everyone in the PD knew all that - and knew that, as a result, Jim was totally, absolutely, overworked. And no matter how much he slaved at those cases - many of them time-consuming but frankly not requiring the attention of 'the best' - no matter how much overtime he (and Blair) put in, there was no way he was ever going to catch up on a workload that seemed to grow bigger with each passing day.

Blair - himself no slouch when it came to fitting more work into a day than most people would have considered possible - could see the increasing strain Jim was under, and knew that it couldn't go on.

He knew that Simon had tried. He knew - via Rhonda and Commissioner Norris's secretary Elma - that Norris, too, had tried - but the current Mayor just wouldn't listen. And he still had nearly three years in office before the next election. It was too long. And if he was re-elected for another term...

No.

Something had to be done. Now.

Over several days, Blair quietly copied all the paperwork for all the cases Jim was currently working, storing it all away in his desk drawers, then - giving a false name - made an appointment to see the Mayor, 'on a matter concerning public safety'. He smiled to himself as he considered that subject. How true it was... for if Jim collapsed under the strain of investigating so many unimportant cases, he wouldn't be there if - when - a really important one surfaced.

On the evening before his appointment with Mayor Hepburn he put all the papers carefully in the backpack he still routinely carried, though it was a long time since it had been as full as it was with all that copied paperwork in it.

***

It was a measure of how exhausted Jim was that he accepted without query Blair's announcement, when they got to the PD next morning, that he wanted a word with Serena. Jim just nodded and got into the elevator as Blair turned towards the stairs. The moment the elevator door closed, Blair turned and ran back to the garage.

It hadn't been a total lie; Serena was waiting for him, ready to drive him to the Mayor's office.

Once there, Blair gave the name he had used when making the appointment. He was a few minutes early, but he was surprised when he was shown into the Mayor's office immediately.

"Hello, Mr. - Sandburg?"

Blair grinned. He hadn't really expected to be recognized, but he was flattered that he was. "Yes, sir. I thought if I used my own name, you might refuse to see me." He could see that he had left Hepburn speechless. "But my reason for asking to see you was genuine."

He opened his backpack, and emptied the contents onto Hepburn's desk. One or two sheets of paper fluttered to the ground, but he ignored them.

"You might not have realized, sir, but in your anxiety to show that Cascade's PD is efficient at solving crime, you kept insisting that cases be assigned to 'the best' - and everyone knows that Major Crime has the best qualified detectives. Of them all, Detective Ellison, who won the 'cop of the year' award twice - and would have won it again only he told the Commissioner he wanted someone else to have the honor, has a solve rate that is really high. So he has been given case after case, including a lot that would be handled perfectly efficiently by Burglary, Homicide, Narcotics - even Bunko. It's amazing that there has been very little resentment at the implied insult to those other departments.

"But while he is paying attention to all those, often relatively minor, crimes - and that - " he indicated the pile of paper on the desk - "is his current workload, he can't spend time investigating really major crimes. I do what I can to help him... but we're both working at least fifteen hour days, seven days a week. The other Major Crime detectives are working at least twelve hour days covering what we should be doing as well as their own cases. It can't go on."

"I thought Norris was exaggerating... " Hepburn said.

Blair shook his head. "While he probably told you Jim was overworked, it's possible even he doesn't realize how badly. We don't mind helping other departments when necessary, sir, but - "

"I didn't realize... I really wasn't trying to overwork Detective Ellison, just... "

"Wanted to show Cascade had an efficient police force."

"Yes." Hepburn looked at the pile of paper. "I'll have a word with Norris. And... thank you for making me see... "

Blair left.

By the time Serena had driven him back to the PD, the Mayor had contacted Simon and told him to give Ellison - and Sandburg - two weeks off; and Norris, to get all those cases assigned to the appropriate departments.

He might have been thoughtless - but he could learn. Especially when approached by a guide who was also a shaman, and who was defending his sentinel.

 

 


End file.
